Janina Ochojska is a Polish politician, an astronomer, humanitarian, social activist and founder of the Polish Humanitarian Action. She started her studies in astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in 1980. Until 1984, she worked in the Astrophysics Laboratory at the Polish Academy of Sciences. She was associated with the democratic opposition starting from 1970, cooperating with the Independent Social Library of Antoni Stawikowski and Solidarity. As a volunteer, she was active in the EquiLibre Foundation, she founded the Polish branch of the foundation in 1989 and organized a convoy of Polish aid for Yugoslavia in 1992. In the same year, Ochojska-Okońska founded the Polish Humanitarian Action.
She is a member of the EP Delegation for Relations with Belarus. Her main activity in the EP concerns humanitarian aid, especially the Greek islands and Albania after the recent earthquake there and climate refugees. Ochojska did not express any statement regarding geopolitical issues as an MEP.
She is very active in issues concerning human rights, refugees and aid to developing countries. She was involved in the work on the aid strategy for Africa, and argued that the voice of African societies should be listened to.
She is committed to the refugee issue and critical of the actions of the Greek authorities towards refugees.
She was one of the initiators of a letter to Joseph Borell on the repression in Belarus and called for fundraising for Belarusians.
(Updated: 13/7/2021)
